Leaves: a collection of drabbles
by nearsightedness
Summary: Assorted drabbles, with varied characters and pairings. May contain spoilers. Newly added: Kaien & Renji and IkkakuRukia. Also has ShuuheiRukia, ShuuheiMomo, and ShunUki.
1. Chapter 1

**Notes:** This is a small collection of three drabbles, written for an LJ drabble meme. Being drabbles, they're all _very_ short, but nevertheless I hope that if you read them they offer you some enjoyment. The warnings are for het and shounen-ai, spoilers for the end of the Soul Society arc, but that's pretty much it. Reviews, including constructive criticism, are appreciated **  
**

* * *

**Telepathy **

**Pairing/Characters:** Shuuhei/Rukia  
**Word count:** 143.

"But Renji—"

"Renji is an idiot," said Rukia crisply.

"That isn't quite what I was going to…" began Shuuhei.

"You were thinking it."

At that, Shuuhei smiled. "Can you read my mind, Kuchiki-san?."

"If we are going to embark on a physical relationship, you might as well call me Rukia," she pointed out, and was gratified to see Shuuhei's ears redden. With a tattoo like his, one would think he'd be less the blushing virgin—although that was, perhaps, unfair.

"But Renji—" he tried again.

"An idiot," repeated Rukia. "Now kiss me." As Shuuhei leant down, she added, "And I cannot read your mind, your thoughts are merely transparent."

"You really are cruel to those you like, aren't you?" Shuuhei sounded amused.

As his lips pressed against hers, Rukia thought that maybe they could read each others' minds, in a way.

* * *

**Mystery**

**Pairing/Characters:** Shuuhei/Momo  
**Word count:** 129.

Being honest with himself, Shuuhei knew that he was drawn to Momo, at first, out of a selfish need to feel good and useful. After Tousen's betrayal the words had run through his head like the pretty painted horses of a carousel—_bad person, not good enough, bad person, failure, bad, why, my fault, why, why, why?_ The worst thing was knowing the answer to that why, believing it deep in his bones.

In his wanting to un-know the answer to the why he turned to Momo—he swore that he would protect her, would undo the harm Aizen had done her, would never leave her or let her down, and every time he held her and every time he kissed her he felt the _why_ become more puzzling.

* * *

**Vital**

**Pairing/Characters:** Shunsui/Ukitake  
**Word count:** 124.

Sometimes, lying next to his lover, doing the written questions their teachers assigned them and listening to the soft sound of their breathing, Jyuushirou wonders why he doesn't mind Kyouraku's skirt-chasing. It's a question he has asked himself and answered before, but Jyuushirou is a careful, thoughtful person (and Kyouraku's recklessness balances that out, and vice versa, which is how it works), and he enjoys tracing his mind along the familiar patterns of their love. He does not ask himself the question because it bothers or puzzles him; he just likes knowing the answer.

And ever time he sees Kyouraku chasing after a girl, Jyuushirou smiles and shakes his head, because he knows Kyouraku is just being healthy enough for the both of them.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title:** Two Degrees  
**Fandom:** Bleach  
**Pairing/Characters:** Renji, Kaien, implied onesided-RenjiRukia and onesided-RukiaKaien.  
**Word count:** 272  
**Rating/Warnings:** G, maybe PG for brief swearing  
**Written for: **Karlie

The first time Renji really met Shiba Kaien, by chance in a Rukongai bar, he wondered how the _fuck_ Rukia could love a guy like that. Well, obviously he wouldn't understand loving a guy in the first place, but that wasn't the point: the point was the incomprehensibility in general.

Kaien was loud. He didn't shout, but there was an indefinable volume to everything he did. "Abarai-san, right?" he asked. "Hey, hey! Let me buy you a drink. I've heard so much about you from Kuchiki."

Somehow, Renji doubted that. He couldn't imagine Rukia talking about him.

Kaien was married. "Yeah, Miyako," he said when Renji shot him an idle query after a couple of drinks. "She's beautiful," he sighed, eyes soft, grin soft, lacking the loud edge it had had when Renji'd first seen him. Yes, thought Renji, Kaien was married and Kaien was in love, and something green and choking twisted beneath Renji's breastbone. If he'd had the capacity to figure out the right words for that sort of stuff, he'd have called it envy.

Kaien was the sort of guy who wandered into a rough Rukongai bar and knew how to handle himself, who bought near-strangers drinks and told bawdy jokes and silly stories.

And then, at the very end of that night, when they had to be getting home, Renji got it with a successive clicking of mental gears. 

Shiba Kaien was the sort of guy who turned after the goodbyes and said: "I meant it when I said I had heard a lot about you from Kuchiki. And now I see why, too."

**Title:** Count Your Blessings  
**Fandom:** Bleach  
**Pairing/Characters:** Rukia, Ikkaku, Renji, brief Ikkaku/Rukia  
**Word count:** 234  
**Rating/Warnings:** G. Brief kissing. Possible crack/OOC, Ikkaku abuse.  
**Written for: **Jazzy

"It is a foolish thing to believe in," said Rukia, her tone firm and vaguely disdainful. Ikkaku just laughed in that rough expansive undignified way of his, throwing his head back and letting his shoulders shake. Rukia wondered if it was really a good idea for Renji to spend time with someone like this. Then again, she thought with a sudden pang of something without a name, Renji _was_ rough and (_free and alive and honest_, said her mind, but she pretended that she neither heard nor knew those words).

"Keh," said Ikkaku, "you're an idiot."

"I beg your par—"

"Here, I'll show you," he said with a predator's grin, straightening up and taking a step forward. Rukia frowned and stood up as straight as she could.

"Show me _what_?"

The grin widened—another step. "Luck," he crowed. "I'll show you luck, 'cause this is your lucky day."

Then he was kissing her, and his kiss was as rough as everything else about him, and he tasted of those other words, too, those words Rukia told herself she didn't know.

And luckily for Ikkaku, she didn't object too much; he got away with just a black eye, sore crotch and aching solar plexus. Renji, when he saw his division-mate and discovered what had happened, stared in shock, and then, smirking, just told Ikkaku to count his blessings.


End file.
